daddy's day

Sunday was a special day for Daddy. Jonah had the idea of decorating the house and making daddy a card. He made him the cutest card too, and tried so hard to write inside all by himself. In the card he wrote, "Daddy, I love you. You are my best friend. Come to church and I will sing you a song and then we can come home and play together. You're friend, Jonah. "

We made Daddy a special breakfast. Orange Rolls and peaches. Yes, I used the Pillsbury dough. But hey. When Church starts at 8:30 a.m. that's the best I can do!

Emma picked Daddy some flowers and woke him up . It was so cute to see how excited Jonah and Emma got to surprise Daddy. They sure love him!

I just hung up a tiny banner. But Jonah still counted that as a decorting!

My parents were driving home from Utah on Fathers Day and ended up getting home early so we decided to just make dinner a family affair and have my sister and Brother in law over as well. Glad I had enough food for everyone and it was so fun to celebrate with all the dads together. I made Zachary's  favorite meal growing up, which I never make, Good ol' Roast and mashed potatoes! yum! It was actually really yummy too! Probably not as good as his mom's but I tried my best to atleast make the meat tender and the gravy good. Thanks to my sister Kaci for taking all these pictures of our dinner!(And helping me cook too ;)

And for dessert we had razzleberry pie and ice cream. Also Zach's favorite! It's funny to me that Fathers day seems to be celebrated with food and Mother's day is celebrated with flowers.., Am i weird that I think that's funny? yes. ok, moving on!

Micah was so happy to see his Papa again. I wanted to post this picture So Zach's parents can see how much Micah now loves the rocking horse they gave the kids for Christmas! 

It's very sad, we didn't actually take a picture of Zach or Salesi and my Dad on Father's day. I saw this one, I guess kaci took it and it is the only one of all three! So here they are, the great fathers, dishing up their yummy dinner. Sorry you got blurred out dad!

Emma and the flowers she picked for her daddy.

Jonah, Emma, and Micah are SO LUCKY to have such an awesome daddy. He really is the best with them. I didn't expect Zach to be home on Sunday because he was supposed to be on call at the hospital. But I guess when they were passing the call schedule around at work they asked him if he wanted Father's day or Mother's day off and he responded that he wanted Mother's day off and would work Father's Day. His co-workers asked why he would want Mother's Day and not Father's Day off and he said 

"Because I want to be home and celebrate my wife!"

 I guess all the ladies in the room thought that was the sweetest thing and one woman said,

 "Now that's a man! You let me know when you and your wife split up."

and Zach replied,

"Umm.. ya, That's never going to happen. we're going to be together forever."

HAHA! They must have thought he was so sweet that someone else took his call shift. I'm so happy we could celebrate father's day with him.  I've always known that Zachary was meant to be a father. He just has that tender spirit about him and he cares so much. I love how involved he is with the kids and is always trying to find new ways to teach them and help them feel loved. Jonah right now is especially attached to his daddy and is always telling Zach, "Daddy you're my BEST FRIEND!..Daddy, show me your HUGE MUSCLES! ..Daddy I want to work at the hospital and take care of people too!"

And my dad and Father in Law! Both such great Dads! My dad has always been there for me and never forgets to tell me that I'm loved. It means the world to me that we now get to live so close to my Mom and Dad and Jonah  has become so close with his Papa. He is so patient with Jonah and calls me almost every weekend asking if he can take Jonah somewhere.  And my father in law is so wonderful and I'm so grateful for him and the way he cares about Zach, me and the kids. He has always been there for us and especially for Zach. I'm grateful that Zach is so close to his father and can call him and talk and always receives wise council from him whenever he needs it. We miss Zach's parents so much!

We sure love daddy!

just so ya know..

What a typical morning is like for me. Or since nobody reads this blog, just so I will REMEMBER what it used to be like five years from now. 

Wake up at 1 am- Emma wants milk

wake up 4 am- feed Micah

Wake up 5 am-Jonah goes potty in my bathroom and climbs in my bed, he plays a loud game on my phone while I try and sleep and Zach gets ready for work.

5:30 am- Emma and Micah are up. 

Change Diapers, Make breakfast, get kids dressed. Have family prayer and we all give daddy hugs and wave to him on the front porch as he toots his horn and makes Micah laugh. I try and get dressed while Micah opens all my drawers and throws floss and makeup across the floor. I give him a cup and some medical tape and he is distracted for five minutes while I do a sloppy job putting eyeliner on and brush my hair quickly. (I can take a shower at  noon during nap time. it works.) I come out of the bedroom with Micah, and Emma and Jonah are playing tag, and throwing all the couch pillows across the room. I quickly make a list, while Micah pulls on my leg and cries, and Emma and Jonah sing the clean up song and put the pillows back where they belong. good kids :) 

Next, Make sure I have all my stuff, including wipes and diapers. Tell Jonah to go potty so he won't have any accidents or have to go in the grocery store. I have Micah play with a toy as I run Emma out to the car and strap her in. This way she wont be loose and jump around while I try and catch her to strap her in. I run inside, grab Micah and Jonah is upset he can't find his shoes. He finds them outside, all muddy from the day before. He puts them in the car but I also grab a pair of clean shoes for him. Back up the car, put the trash cans out, and quickly throw water on my dying plant that needs to be put in the ground. Jonah volunteers to pray. He prays for us to have fun and be safe. As I drive Emma points out every house and yells at me to look at each one. I act surprised at each house she points out. I drive to my parents house and run inside, feed Stewart, and let him outside with a bowl of water. Back in the car and I stop at Target first with returns.

I find the best parking spot next to an SUV in the shade. The car leaves and as I'm in the process of unloading the kids, a truck full of junk decides to take it's place in the tiny corner. It took him five minutes to squeeze in. Seriously!? The man had to crawl under these chairs, how was I supposed to get Emma out? It made me a little upset since he saw that I was trying tp get kids out of the car too. The funniest part was that after all his trouble to park in this tiny spot (and there were a 100 other spot right next to him) he basically ran in the store and ran right out. 

So I go inside and decide to try and find a fathers day gift. But Micah and Emma are both starting to act wild and since I'm weak I desperately grab a bag of dumdums to get me through the rest of the store.

And it wasn't until I was walking out of Target that I noticed Jonah's shoes. He said "I wanted to wear them like this! It's cool!" 

After i loaded everyone back in the car I headed to the grocery store. Emma and Jonah piled in a car shopping cart and I pushed them around while Micah kept grabbing at my shirt and screaming. As i got in line I realized I forgot some main ingredients but there was no way I was going to run through the store again. I still had to get everyone and everything back in the car and home before anyone falls asleep. Oh and I had to stop and put Stewart the cat back inside before he died of heat stroke.

When I finally got home, Micah was asleep. I left the car running and had Jonah hold the door open while I made about eight trips back and forth with all the groceries. On my last trip Emma decided it was time to wake up Micah so she started yelling "WAKE UP MICAH!" and  he woke up screaming. I quickly tried to find the melting ice cream and throw that in the freezer. Put Emma inside and tried to put Micah back down in his crib. Luckily he fell back to sleep. I then ran in the kitchen and put away the food while Jonah showed Emma the sticky hand he got out of the machine with his chore money . He threw it on the ceiling and they would watch and wait for it to peel off and fall back down.

After the cold food was put away, I put the Tinkerbell movie on for them in the playroom and passed out on the couch for ten minutes before I had the strength to make lunch and clean up.

And after I fed everyone some grub, Emma got in her bed and took her nap. ah, the first half on the day is done. I made it! It's a hard phase right now. Emma and Micah are just not ready to go out and do much. Going to just a few stores might now seem like a big deal, if I was alone it would have taken me half the time, and half the energy.  Yet here I am, with three little ones and when it's time to take them into a few stores, I have to take a deep breath, roll up my sleeves and just get the job done. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. All in all, I've had much much worse. Today was actually a good morning. No major fits, no injuries. Only lost one binkie, and Emma didn't steal anything. I know this was extremely long and very detailed but one day I'll forget how challenging it was for me to drive into town.  :)

Mr fix it

If Jonah ever finds a screw driver lying around, beware. He will find something, and take it apart, then lose the screws before you can say stop. 

So I decided to just give in to his fascination with parts and buy an old tape recorder at the goodwill. 

 It was fun to watch him figure out how to take off the back cover and unscrew ever little bolt inside.

And it kept him very quiet and busy for about an hour! I'm thinking of stocking up on old junk.

The funniest part though, was when he was finished and I asked him if he had fun he said, "yes....well. No. Mommy, I want to build something, not break something!"

daughter

I will always remember how I felt when I found out I was going to have a girl. Shocked. For some reason, I just pictured myself having all boys. I was beyond excited and the first thought I had was, "Father and son camp out, Girls night!..., Shopping buddy, mini me, a little one to teach how to cook, bake, sew, dress, piano playing, singing, barbies, and a little drama."

I pictured my little girl quiet and sweet and always wanting to snuggle. The opposite of Emma Nalder. 

She is Loud, and energetic! The most active out of all my babies. Started walking at nine months, never wanted to snuggle or could ever sleep in our bed. She loves saying "No!" and screaming as loud as she can whether she's happy or not. She can't sit still, loves to dance and jump around, and get into anything and everything she can find and make huge messes. a two year old with big plans. 

Now, that's not completely true. Emma is still a sweet heart, and is actually quite shy when she meets someone new. But all around she is our curly haired ball of energy! 

Up until, recently.  

She must be growing up, and quieting down, just a little. She suddenly wants to snuggle, and asks me to sing her bedtime songs. She loves taking care of her dolls, and talking to them while she falls asleep. She always grabs my face and as she squeezes my cheeks says "Mommy you're Booouuuuutiful!!!!" Emma loves wearing dresses and new clothes (might be a problem later on ;)) She always runs and shows Zach a picture she colored or a shirt shes wearing. On Sunday after I do her hair, She runs into the bathroom where daddy is getting dressed and says "Wook Daddy! I'm Pretty!!!" and shows off her hair and dress. 

When Micah cries, she pats his head a little rough and says "Aww, Midah. it's oday. sad? it's oday." and gives him a kiss. 

Jonah took this picture of us snuggling during a movie on Sunday. She pulled my arm tight around her. So sweet.

She loves to watch me get ready and put makeup on. So the other day I put curlers in our hair. Emma thought it was the neatest thing. 

And this morning I gave her a crazy side up do. She kept looking in the mirror saying "Oh hi. It's me Emma. Just a second." and she would walk away and come back and repeat. I was dying. She is just so funny and has such a personality at only two. 

                              I'm so happy this sweet and outgoing little girl is mine. As hard as it is sometimes taking her to the store or dealing with her temper tantrums, I love it all and love watching her learn and become such a fun and sweet little girl. She's been practicing how to pray lately and normally she practically whispers when she gives it but the other day she decided to bolt out each word in her prayer,  it wasn't very reverent but I could tell that she was just so proud  of being able to say the prayer all by herself. After she said, "AMEN!" she looked at me and said, "See mommy, I DID IT!!!!" I was so proud of her for trying.

                                                       

This picture makes me smile because it's just such a typical Emma face. And you can see how she drew all over her legs. Also a regular thing for her. Having a little girl is definitely different than I thought it would be, it's much more challenging and much more fun. We sure love you Miss Emma!

Guess who turned 1?

Yesterday, was my mom's birthday AND Micah's birthday! Sadly, my mom couldn't be there to celebrate with us, but my sister Kaci came to help out since I've been sick as a dog for the past three days and she whipped up some cupcakes for Micah's big day! More later but here's his birthday song. I love how Jonah and Emma fight over blowing out the candle, and how Emma says "I DID IT!", I'm glaring at Kaci and Zach for not singing, and please excuse how pathetic I look, remember. I has been in bed for two days straight. We love our Micah!

play house

 The other day, after feeling housebound in the summer heat, I had an idea to clean out Emma's closet and surprise the kids with a secret room.
  So I hauled all the buckets of food storage out, and moved some things around. I brought in her old crib mattress and it wedged in the corner perfectly! Added her doll house, some books, pillows, and a little lamp and that was it!

It was like Christmas morning for them! I didn't expect them to be so excited about it. 

The next morning Jonah and Emma played in her closet for an hour before the rest of us got out of bed. ahh, it's great. ;)

The sweetest moment though, had to be when I was feeding Micah and could hear Jonah reading Emma a book in their "special  play house". I love moments like that. 

It may not be anything amazing, or the newest toy, but with a little imagination, a lamp, and a door, it's their favorite place in the house!